Dark Moon Rising
by Chaos Valkyrie
Summary: Steps: Peter, James, and Sirius have a little explaining to do to a bemused Remus about how their OWL practice session landed them in the Girls' Dormitory.


**Dark Moon Rising  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** March 2006  
**Posted Chapter 01:** August 1, 2006  
**Theme(s):** 27. Practice.

**Disclaimer: **I'm not an English billionaire. I'm just a poor American lucky-if-my-bank-account's-breaking-five-bucks-aire.

**Author's Note:** This will be a series of one-shots detailing the reign of the Marauders at Hogwarts that I'm doings for the 30friends LJ Community Challenge. These won't be in any kind of chronological order, but I'll try to tell you what year, etc. these are taking place.

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**Steps**_

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Marauders Era, Early Fifth Year at Hogwarts_

Remus Lupin, werewolf wizard extraordinaire, knew instantly as he finished his first round of prefect duty that trouble was afoot. His elevated hearing easily picked up the high-pitched screams of dismay and anger coming from the general vicinity of Gryffindor tower. And as he walked up the stairs towards his dormitory, the harsh, excited whispers emanating from the closet around the corner alerted him to the cause of the commotion.

He flung the door open with a loud bang, smirking as the perpetrators jumped and turned to him with wide, anxious eyes. Eyes that softened once they recognized their long time friend…

"Quick Moony, get in here and shut that door, quick!" James whispered as Sirius reached out to grab their friend's arm. Peter snapped the door shut behind the prefect, locking it with a quiet spell.

Remus crossed his arms, staring at his rather smug-looking – and in James' case, starry-eyed – friends expectantly.

"So, would you three care to tell me why the fifth-year Gryffindor girls," he paused, listening carefully, "Lily Evans in particular, are calling for your blood right now?" He crooked an eyebrow, forcing the smile off his face with difficulty.

"Why, whatever do you mean, Moony old pal?" Sirius shrugged, his air of injured innocence not quite reaching his devious eyes.

Remus held a hand to his chin, assuming a thoughtful expression. "Well, I distinctly recall you three chaps telling me you were going to get in some early practice for the DADA OWLs this evening while I was on duty."

"Uh-huh…" James trailed off dazedly, humming to himself. Remus' eyebrow quirked.

"And I know you guys wouldn't dream of enacting 'Operation Bloomers' without me, now would you?" Remus asked, noting with satisfaction the looks of extreme guilt his three friends exchanged.

"Well…" Peter hesitated, looking to Sirius for help. Padfoot snorted, bracing himself for the explanation.

"Well Moony, we did start to practice in the dormitory, just as we told you. James was trying to help Peter with his boggart banishing spell, and I was working on summoning a Patronus. Well, after about a couple of hours –" Peter coughed at this, earning a disapproving look from Sirius. "All right, after about ten minutes we decided we'd go find a boggart. After all, Wormtail here is afraid of everything," Peter frowned but said nothing, "So we thought if we found one, we could turn it into a Dementor or something and practice both."

Moony nodded. "Naturally. And so this led you to the girls' dorm… how?"

"Well," Peter took up the story. "At first we looked at the map, but after searching for awhile, we couldn't find one anywhere. So then we went out, hoping that if we found Peeves or Sir Nick, they might know where we could get one."

"We did find Peeves, but he didn't fancy having spells shot at him, so after a good ten minutes of chasing him about, we finally gave up and went back to looking at the map," James continued.

"And so I had the great idea that Snivellus resembles a great overgrown bat, so if we found him we could practice Patronuses, Banishing, counter hexes, you name it," Sirius continued with a grin. Moony shook his head in disapproval, but said nothing, motioning for his friends to continue.

"Well, looking at the map, we noticed something… erm, interesting," Peter mumbled with a half-hidden grin.

"The fifth year girls were all in the showers," Sirius answered with a flourish.

"And we were so, er, intent on practicing our Defensive spells, we went to see if Lil… er, if any of them knew where we could find a boggart," James explained lamely.

"And so you boys, like the gentlemen you were, waited in their dormitory for them to return," Remus finished with a smirk. The three boys nodded, smiles firmly planted at the memory.

"They came in from the showers in naught but their towels," Sirius chuckled. "One well aimed Wingardium Leviosa…"

"…and all my dreams came true at once," James finished dreamily. Remus shook his head, trying to hide his grin.

"So, you left me out of the master plan, the one we spent oh-so-many months dreaming up last year?" Remus asked sourly. Sirius shrugged.

"Seize the moment, I say. Take your chances when you can," Padfoot shrugged.

"You know, as a prefect and your friend, I'm probably going to be called into McGonagall's office about this," Remus trailed off thoughtfully, one eyebrow raised. The other three froze.

"You wouldn't…" Sirius trailed off in alarm.

"But Remus, you can't! She'll expel us for sure!" Peter exclaimed.

"Look, Moony, there'll be other times… we can make a special trip just for you!" James wailed. Remus shook his head, chuckling.

"You know I wouldn't tell McGonagall on you guys, so relax." The boys visibly slumped in relief.

"You're the best, Remus," James told him, thumping his arm enthusiastically. Remus smirked, listening carefully.

"Look, I'd better get out there… no telling who the ladies are threatening right now," he told them. The others nodded, letting Remus out of the closet. He heard the door lock with a 'click' behind him, and then shook his head. As if that would stop…

"Remus John Lupin!" a voice yelled at him from further down the hall, and he smiled widely.

"Lily," he nodded. She stormed up to him, her three roommates (and about half the other Gryffindor girls besides) behind her.

"Do you know what those reprobates you call friends did?" she screeched, her cheeks flaming red. He nodded, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, actually." She grew annoyed with his calm demeanor.

"You have to report them to McGonagall right now!" she steamed. Remus shrugged.

"As much as I'd love to, I already made a promise that I wouldn't rat them out… to McGonagall, that is," he finished in a suggestively lower voice. Her eyes widened at the implications, and he smirked.

"You owe me one," he whispered so that only she could hear, pointing to the closet as he did so. Lily waited until he was well down the hall before pointing her wand at the door. A quick 'Alohomora' and three very guilty young men were revealed.

Remus was almost to the portrait hole when he heard an angry "JAMES POTTER!" echo down the hallway. He grinned widely.

"That'll teach them to leave me out of the 'practice session'," he muttered, laughing to himself as he ducked into the common room.

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**End Notes: **One down, twenty-nine more Marauders stories to go. Feedback is welcome… this is my first pure Harry Potter stories (not counting cross-overs) that I've posted, so I'd like to know if there's anything I need to work on… I'm American, so I know that the 70s British slang is lost to me. Anywho, I've got some rough ideas for this series, which will jump around quite a bit during their Hogwarts years and beyond… both humorous and serious, hence the 'General' rating. They'll all be posted together as "Dark Moon Rising", because they all are sort of interrelated. So look for number two – 'Stars' – in a couple of weeks. Till then! 


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